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U.S. markets pitch downward Friday

NEW YORK, June 6 (UPI) -- Surging oil prices and a bump in the U.S. unemployment rate sent U.S. markets plunging Friday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil prices broke records in one-day gains and price, jumping more than $11 per barrel to $139.12 per barrel.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose 0.5 percent to 5.5 percent, the Labor Department reported.

The burst put the $150 per barrel mark within range for the near-term, analysts said.

By close Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average had lost 3.13 percent, down 394.64 points to 12,209.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 43.37 to 1,360.68, down 3.09 percent. The Nasdaq composite index fell 75.38 to 2,474.56, down 2.96 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 559 stocks advanced and 2,578 declined on a volume of 1.482 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 30/32 to yield 3.926 percent.

The dollar fell. The euro traded at $1.5773 from Thursday's $1.5599, while the dollar traded at 104.98 yen from Monday's 105.94 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 148.32 points to 14,489.44, up 1.03 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 83.10 to 5,912.20, off 1.39 percent.

Union: Canadian GM blockade to continue

TORONTO, June 6 (UPI) -- The Canadian Autoworkers Union vowed Friday to maintain the blockade of General Motors Canada's head office in Oshawa, Ontario.

CAW President Buzz Hargrove told CTV News the company had acted in bad faith after collective bargaining May 14 and then announcing Tuesday the closure of the plant that employs 2,500 people.

Wednesday, workers set up roadblocks at corporate headquarters, forcing employees to park outside and walk in.

Hargrove cited the agreement to keep the plant open through the life of the contract until 2011, but GM's announcement said it would close in 2009, along with two U.S. plants and one in Mexico.

GM said soaring gasoline prices and the associated plummet in demand for trucks were behind the closure decision.

Thursday, the Conservative government told GM there was $250 million fund it could tap into to keep the plant at least partially productive on other models.

U.S. launches probe into Intel's pricing

WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an antitrust probe into microprocessor company Intel Friday, officials said.

The investigation was given the go-ahead by the trade commission's new Chairman William Kovacic, The New York Times reported.

Kovacic's predecessor, Deborah Majoras, who left the commission two months ago, had been blocking a move toward a formal investigation, the Times reported.

Several computer makers and Intel's smaller competitor Advanced Micro Devices, have already received subpoenas in the investigation that follows a Korean Fair Trade Commission fine of more than $25 million announced this week on a ruling that Intel had engaged in a price-fixing there.

Between 2002 and 2005, Intel provided Samsung Electronics and the Tigrem Co. $37 million in rebates in return for their promises not to do business with Advanced Micro Devices, the Korean commission ruled.

The European Commission ruled against Intel last year on similar charges, which claim Intel offers rebates to companies in exchange for limiting or eliminating business with its competitors.

Iraqi Kurd oil ready with no place to go

BAGHDAD, June 6 (UPI) -- Iraqi Kurds said they are ready to ship $18 million worth of oil a day, but political disputes have hampered shipments.

The Kurds have signed deals with numerous foreign companies, but the bordering countries of Turkey, Iran and Syria have refused to extend transit rights for Kurdish oil, Assaman News Service reported Friday.

Iraq's Oil Ministry has also retaliated against companies that sign deals with the Kurds, who control Iraq's Arbil, Sulaimaniya and Dahouk provinces and are trying to gain control of the oil-rich city Kirkuk, Assaman reported.

The Kurds have said 150,000 barrels a day could be shipped. Recently, they have sent signals to the central government in Baghdad that they would like to resolve their differences.

But, Baghdad has insisted the oil profits from Kurdish provinces should go the country's central bank, the report said.